Photo by John Shismanian/NorwichBulletin.com
Earlier this week in Norwich, Connecticut, a Superior Court Judge ordered Daniel Musser to be held on a $300,000 bond in connection with a fatal crash. Musser, a young 24-year-old, was driving his Honda Accord the wrong way without headlight on Interstate 395 early Saturday when he crashed head-on into a van. According to authorities, the van was carrying young Connecticut College students on their way to the airport.
Elizabeth Durante, a 20-year-old who helped to organize the humanitarian mission to Uganda, was killed in the crash. Musser admitted to consuming “four or five drinks over the course of the evening,” at the Ultra 88 club at Mohegan Sun Casino prior to the accident.
According to reports, at approximately 3:38 a.m. authorities received a 911 call reporting a vehicle without lights traveling west on the eastbound side of Route 2A in Montville. When Police arrived at the scene of the crash, Durante (the young woman) was found dead at the scene. Other passengers were immediately transported to area hospitals for treatment. The driver of the van claimed he had not seen the oncoming car until it was 25 feet away. Musser was found with a strong scent of alcohol tracing his breath, bloodshot eyes, and then failed to pass a sobriety test.
The Bail Commissioner stated that Musser had been with the Navy for four and a half years and has resided in Connecticut for the past two and a half years. Although he has no prior criminal record, Musser was placed on a suicide watch and ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation. His set court date is for March 23rd.
Musser is charged with second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle while intoxicated, second-degree assault with a motor vehicle, first-degree reckless endangerment, operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs, driving the wrong way on the highway and operating without minimum insurance.
Update to this story, since we first posted it. Daniel Musser was sentenced to six years in prison. Click here for more on this story.
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